RFE/RL NEWSLINE
Vol. 1, No. 16, 22 April 1997

SLOVAKIA, HUNGARY WANT NEW BORDER AGREEMENT.
Slovakia and Hungary are to negotiate a new agreement on
their common border to replace the accord signed 40 years
ago. Following a meeting with his Hungarian counterpart,
Gabor Kuncze, in Bratislava yesterday, Slovak Internal Affairs
Minister Gustav Krajci told journalists that "both sides agreed
that the border agreement needs updating." He pointed to
numerous changes in the Slovak-Hungarian border caused by
the regulation of rivers and other natural changes. More than
half of the 678 km border is formed by rivers. Krajci and
Kuncze also agreed to exchange information on public
administration reform.

HUNGARIAN FOREIGN MINISTER URGES SLOVAKIA TO
DRAFT MINORITY LANGUAGE LAW. Hungarian Internal
Affairs Minister Gabor Kuncze has urged Slovakia to draft a
law on the use of minority languages as soon as possible. At
his meeting with Prime Minister Vladimir Meciar in Bratislava
yesterday, Kuncze suggested that laws that have a "negative
effect" on national minorities should be reviewed. Meciar said
he believed the situation of ethnic Slovaks in Hungary to be
worse than that of ethnic Hungarians in Slovakia. But Kunze
rejected that argument, pointing out that under Hungarian
law, anyone can address the Hungarian parliament in his own
language. During his recent visit to Slovakia, Max van der
Stoel, the OSCE high commissioner on Minorities, urged
Slovakia to adopt a law on the use of minority languages.

UPDATE ON HUNGARIAN SECRET SERVICE SCANDAL.
Istvan Nikolitis, who is minister without portfolio in charge of
the civilian secret services, says neither Gabor Kiss nor any
other deputy has "any kind of confidential relationship with
the Intelligence Office," Hungarian media reported. Nikolitis
was speaking to reporters yesterday after briefing the Socialist
Party faction about the so-called Operation Birch Tree scandal,
which erupted after he filed an official complaint with the
Prosecutor-General's Office last month alleging that
Intelligence Office employees were gathering data on several
deputies (see RFE/RL Newsline, 18 April 1997). Nikolitis said
that the Intelligence Office is drafting an official report about
an unidentified person suspected of violating state secrets.


CROATIAN PRESIDENT IN HUNGARY... Franjo Tudjman said
in Budapest yesterday that his country's independence is a
fact and that Zagreb will resist any European or U.S. attempts
to force it into close cooperation with the other former
Yugoslav republics. He stressed that Croatia belongs to
Central Europe and not to the Balkans. Tudjman also
suggested that Croatia and Hungary should work together to
secure integration into Euro-Atlantic structures. Hungarian
President Arpad Goencz agreed to that suggestion but added
that Hungary wants to play a bigger economic role in Croatia
and its postwar reconstruction, including in the privatization
of the Adria pipeline. Goencz also expressed interest in helping
upgrade the port of Rijeka.

 ...AND SAYS SLAVONIAN REFUGEES CAN START GOING
HOME. Tudjman also said in Budapest yesterday that
Croatian and Hungarian refugees can move back to their
homes soon after eastern Slavonia returns to Croatian rule in
July. He added that the refugees' right to go home is
guaranteed even if their houses were destroyed or if Serbs
have since moved into them. Meanwhile in Zagreb,
Development Minister Jure Radic said that Serbs from other
parts of Croatia who are now living in eastern Slavonia will
receive aid to help them go back to their homes. In Vukovar,
UN officials announced that the Croatian government will open
offices in six eastern Slavonian towns today to help refugees
return there, an RFE/RL correspondent in the area reported.

HUNGARIAN DEFENSE MINISTER IN ROMANIA TO
DISCUSS NATO MEMBERSHIP. Gyorgy Keleti met with his
Romanian counterpart, Victor Babiuc, in Bucharest yesterday
to discuss their countries' quest to join NATO, RFE/RL's
Bucharest Bureau reported. The two leaders sent a joint letter
to the French and German defense ministers asking for
support to set up a Hungarian-Romanian rapid reaction force
using the model of the German-French military contingent.
Both Babiuc and Keleti emphasized that their countries are
partners rather than competitors in the quest to join NATO,
but Keleti said the admission of one country into NATO ahead
of the other would not destabilize the region. Keleti also met
with Premier Victor Ciorbea and members of the parliamentary
defense commissions.

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